Tag: Tiger Den

Since I didn’t know exactly where this photo was taken, I was going to toss it aside. Then I got a closer look and I saw what was on some of the shelves. (You can click on the photo to make it larger, but if you do, I suggested deactivating the Smell Emitting Diode on your computer first.)

Those rolled-up towels contained fermenting gym clothes. I wonder if this could have been taken near the Tiger Den on a Friday, traditionally the day when you were supposed to take your PE clothes home to be washed.

Of course, may of those rolls got stuffed into lockers and recycled again and again.That’s probably why the school got new lockers when it was converted to a junior high school.

Guy shower experiences

When I saw those rolls, it brought back all kind of olfactory twitches. Now, despite teen movies, I was never privy to how girl locker rooms worked, but we guys were herded into gang showers where earsplitting hoots and hollers echoed off the tile walls like a bad prison movie. At least once during this session (which I tried to complete as quickly as possible), there would be something that sounded like a space shuttle lifting off, followed by a sulfurous cloud of methane gas that rolled off the tiles in a green cloud, prompting another Neanderthal to try to best the earlier contribution.

How I envisioned the girls’ locker room

I envisioned my female counterparts being ushered into individual cleansing facilities where there would be soft music playing, the water would come out at the perfect temperature, towels wouldn’t be needed because each compartment would be equipped with air-drying fans and there would be a gentle spritzing of the perfume of the girl’s choice on the way out. Attendants, probably freshmen, would take care of nail and hair maintenance and see that clothing was restored with nary a muss.

The physical education portion of the hour would last about 8 minutes, with the remainder of the time being taken up with the ablution process just described. I’m not sure if the freshmen were actually required to peel the grapes for upper classwomen or if they did it of their own volition.

That must have been the tradeoff for having to wear those ugly uniforms.

The caption in the 1966 Girardot reads “The GUITAR CLUB is new at Central. David Emory, Peter Zickfield and Donna Davis tune up their instruments in the Tiger Den.”

Sure glad to clear that up. I’ve been scratching my head over some random photos I couldn’t identify, including this one. I was thumbing through Wife Lila’s 1966 yearbook and happened to spot a bunch of my pictures in there, even though I was Class of ’65. I must have shot them as a favor.

I have two batches of negs. One was marked Freshman party; the other said Sophomore party. I’m going to break them up into two postings to make things a little less confusing.

Is this the 1966 Freshman Class?

I think I recognize some of these kids as being futures members of the Class of 1966. Anybody want to take a stab at filling in the blanks?

Was this the Tiger Den?

The sign by the door says “Book Exchange,” but this has the feel of the Tiger Den. I tried to get a photo of the Tiger Den when I was back in October, but that part of the building has been reconfigured into classrooms. The door was locked, so I gave up.

There may be some Class of 65 guys here

I’m not positive, but I think I see some guys from my Class of 65 prowling around looking for freshmen girls.

Dancing builds up a powerful hunger

I’ll run photos from the Sophomore party tomorrow. I recognize a lot of those folks as being in the Class of 1965.

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Cape Central High Photos

Ken Steinhoff, Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1965, was a photographer for The Tiger and The Girardot, and was on the staff of The Capaha Arrow and The Sagamore at Southeast Missouri State University. He worked as a photographer / reporter (among other things) at The Jackson Pioneer and The Southeast Missourian.

He transferred to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, his junior year, and served as photo editor of The Ohio University Post. He was also chief photographer of The Athens Messenger.

He was chief photographer of the Gastonia (NC) Gazette for a long 18 months until he could escape to The Palm Beach Post, where he served as a staff photographer, director of photography, editorial operations manager and telecommunications manager. He accepted a buyout in 2008, after 35 years at the paper.

Most of the stories are about growing up in a small Midwestern town on the Mississippi River, but there’s no telling what you might run into.

Please comment on the articles when you see I have left out a bit of history, forgotten a name or when your memory of a circumstance conflicts with mine.

(My mother said her stories improved after all the folks who could contradict died off.)

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